Magnepan MG-1 sonically challenged?

I have owned both the original 1's and the 1.6's. In every respect I think the 1.6's are better with the greatest improvement being better dynamic range, they do better low level information and can swing to the loud end of the spectrum in a flash. The original 1's were somewhat flat IMO (and I used an Audio Research D52 to drive them which was pretty nice) though still pretty good.

I come from the opposite side of the this story. The first Maggie's I heard, and bought were 1.6qr's, then I heard the older models.

The newer models are better, but I don't think it's a quantum leap in sound, more a refinement. I bought a pair of IIIa's for a home theater (my brother's house) that were then rebuilt by Magnepan, and for 20 yr old speakers they hold up very, very well when compared to my 3.6R's.

When I have heard a rebuilt pair of the MG-1's I thought they sounded fantastic. They actually were being run off of a high powered new reciever, and Velodyne DD12 that was matched with them via the room equilization made the system sound nearly seemless. They sounded like Maggies to me, and the sub really integrated well.

macdad,

the sub woofer would help improve the MG1's dynamic range, my major nit to pick with it...

I do agree - almost eveything Magnepan has made since the start has been at or near the top of it's class in terms of value and performance.

The person who showed up and purchased my old MG-1s was very pleased. I demo'd them with a Rotel RB-1070 of 130x2 @8.
Even then, he was very happy and listened to a couple of CDs for nearly an hour.
I hope he is as happy with them as I was.
If I had them still, I'd be temped to keep them around and try them as BACKCHANNEL speakers in a 5.1 setup! I'll bet they are awesome in that context.

Thank you gentlemen, some good interesting and informative points for me a complete Magnepan novice that would like to get into to the world of planars to learn.
I am loaning the MG-1's at the moment in the comfort of my listening room. I am enjoying them very much. Love the mid range, especially drums with 'snare' drum in particular sounding really nice. What freq should my cheap as chips sub SVS PB12NSD be dialed in? The treble is a bit wishy washy though. They are musical and provide enjoyment which is what its all about eh?
Thanks again for your replies.